belittle
/bɪˈlɪt.əl/ verb
Forms belittles belittling belittled
- verb (ambitransitive) To disparage, depreciate, or minimize the importance, value, merit, or significance of someone or something. “Don't belittle your colleagues.”
- verb (transitive) To make small.
Synonyms
understate make light of denigrate degrade deprecate disparage downplay play down trivialize bagatellize abase banalize cut down de-emphasize derogate dispraise lilliputianize make little of make nothing of minimize pick at diminish
Antonyms
big up exaggerate cut it fat hyperbolize overcharge overdo overemphasize overstate play up stretch three-sheet
Etymology
From be- + little. Coined by Thomas Jefferson in 1782.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To make little or less in a moral sense; to speak of in a depreciatory or contemptuous way. T. Jefferson.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “belittle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details